Hello

[bgast1]

I venturing into new territory here. I have been using Linux on and off for about a year. Ubuntu has always worked for me, but I prefer the KDE desktop instead of Gnome. So what I have here is a Ubuntu installation with Kubuntu desktop installed. I have not used KDE 4 much at all but I like how it looks. Is there a guide somewhere on KDE 4 so that I can learn to get the most out of it?

I've heard that KDE 4 has a lot of eye candy built right in. Is there a need for Compiz? I don't use it much but every now and then I like to show off to my Windows friends. I don't know what Vista can do, I've never used it, only Windows XP.

One other question, and this is certainly probably subjective. What is the preferred internet browser in KDE. Konqueror or Firefox or something else?

[bgast1]

Re: Hello

I solved all of these issues. I went to the KDE website and I am printing out the information there. I am using Firefox which was already installed with my Ubuntu Gnome desktop. No question about it though KDE is so much better looking than Gnome.

No, not everything was solved. Perhaps someone could answer the Compiz question for m

[dibl]

Re: Hello

I'm a Compiz addict -- I actually use it for data entry -- source data on one side of the cube and database entry screens on another side.

Here are the packages that I installed -- if you'd rather stay with the Kwin decorator, then you can omit the Emerald stuff:

compiz
compizconfig-backend-kconfig
compizconfig-settings-manager
compiz-core
compiz-fusion-bcop
compiz-fusion-plugins-extra
compiz-fusion-plugins-main
compiz-fusion-plugins-unsupported
compiz-gnome
compiz-plugins
compiz-wrapper
emerald

I think you want compiz-gnome rather than compiz-kde, only if you want to use Emerald. If you want Kwin, then you want compiz-kde.

Hope this helps!

[bgast1]

Re: Hello

Would I be better off installing Hardy Heron with the old KDE, I really like the way this KDE 4 looks.

Also, one other issue just arose. I was trying to watch a DVD and the screen was flickering. In Gnome I had to turn off desktop effects for this to stop.

Right now, I am just checking things out. All I know for sure is that I want linux with KDE.

I will have to learn how to use Compiz as well.

[dibl]

Re: Hello

8.04 is the Long-Term Support release, so the official *buntu recommendation is, that's the one to use. For some reason(s), my experience with 8.04 was a bad one, and when I installed KDE 4.1 on it, that kind of put the final spear into it. I've had much better luck with 8.10, and KDE 4.2. It has a bug or two, for sure, but on my Intel hardware it's really pretty solid. So -- not knowing your hardware, I guess the recommendation would be to make a 8.10 Live CD, boot it and play with it -- try your sound, browser, etc., and see if it likes your hardware. If so ...... dive in!

[bgast1]

Re: Hello

The only consideration is my video card. Yesterday, I tried an install, but I was having a problem getting the restricted drivers to install. But I was also having problems with my internet yesterday. (I think from an ISP standpoint) It was extremely cold here and I think Comcast was having issues. Browser wise, I guess that is still an open question. Firefox is what I am on now. But I guess Konqueror is the default. I just don't know enough about how to use Konqueror yet to make a good call on it. By the way, most of my hardware is Intel, but my video card is an ATI Radeon X1950 Pro PCIe. I have to use my onboard sound as well, because my windows sound card is a Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer card and I have never gotten it to work in Linux. Fortunately I have Bose speakers and headphones, so I can live with my onboard sound. Good speakers make a heck of a lot of difference.

I'll be back in a few after I try another clean install.

[sithlord48]

Re: Hello

ATI Radeon X1950 Pro PCIe

on your last install w/ the dvd play back issues. did you install the "restricted" ati video driver.
should vastly improve your X server's proformace.

i have a geforce4 go 440 and i don't have dvd playback problems, unless i have the generic video driver install "nv" in my case. and your video hardware is much much newer then mine. as for help w/ the ati driver can't help u as i don't have any ati cards.

a note on compiz,

compiz is much more full featured and configureable then kwin's included "effects" in kde 4.1 or 4.2. if your looking to impress compiz is the way to go atm. although i do think its only a matter of time till kwin catches up and i hope w/ just as much config options.

try dibl's install sugestion, and run 'ccsm' to configure it, you may also have to do the following from the
run command window.

compiz --replace

and again to turn back on kwin if you want to at any point.

kwin --replace

you can do them in a terminal but when you close the konsole it will kill ne things its running. so run command is highly recomended (alt+F2 by default or run krunner from konsole).

maybe i am saying so because i am a bit of a compiz junkie myself. or maybe it the fact i like to have some sort of config for the plugins themselves.

and perhaps dibl can confirm this, but i can't seam to get any of the kwin desktop effects to work w/ the mouse (i.e using "meta+wheelup" for zoom in). but like i said could just be me.

[dibl]

Re: Hello

Yes, that's exactly right, sith.

I personally like the Emerald window decorator, although it's designed for gnome, not KDE, and so it's kind of a push to make it work. If you can be happy with Kwin, it's probably a more natural solution for Kubuntu.

[sithlord48]

Re: Hello

emerald has some very nice themes. but i have had some issues in the past using it w/ kde. random crashes where you lose the window decorations for all windows when emerald crashes.
stick w/ kwin you won't get random crashes of your decorations. except for maybe the first trip in to the apperance section of system settings.

you can install them both and toggle them on/off like you can w/ compiz/kwin w/ kde4

to turn on kwin theme

 kde-window-decorator --replace

to turn on emerald

emerald --replace

please note i am not at a kde4 machine atm to test these are all typed correctly.

[bgast1]

Re: Hello

Well, I have a fresh install, but perhaps I am not understanding something here. When I go to activate the restricted driver, the button clicks but nothing happens. With Gnome, this was automatic it installed the ATI driver immediately. Am I missing something?

[sithlord48]

Re: Hello

no it should do it all automatic like, i have had this happen. ok first you should try to update your package list via apt-get open your konsole and type in

sudo apt-get update

if it ends clean you might have some updates todo first.
or it should say something like "i'm broken" and goes on to say run sudo dpkg -reconfigure or something like that. to fix me. do that and it will start to install any packages it failed to install correctly. hopefully your driver is one of them should be a package called something like ati-restricted

if it ends clean and you still can't get it to work

Try using envyng to install you driver.
first you will need to make sure the universe repo is enabled.
open adapt manager and under file->manage reposotories.
check thru the here to make sure that universe is enabled you may also want to turn on mutiverse while here, click apply and it will update the avaible packages. now install the package "envyng-gtk" you can either do it in the adept manager by searching for it and clicking install or type this in the konsole

sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk

it will install some other stuff like envyng-core and a few other things.
after its installed run it from your "K" menu. once its running its rather self explanatory.

if that don't work you should prolly install in manually via ati's site.

[bgast1]

Re: Hello

sithlord48: Looks like I jumped the gun on you. I found an old Hardy Heron Kubuntu cd and installed that. It worked like a charm, did some 240 updates, installed the driver but cancelled when it asked me if I wanted to upgrade to a new distro because I hadn't installed the driver yet. I also ran into some learning curve issues on KDE 4. I screwed up the panel on the bottom. So now I am wondering if I can still update or if I should? I really like the way KDE 4 looks. I will also need to know what I need to do to get DVD playback. I'm guessing it will be the same as with Ubuntu Gnome desktop. In that case I can go back and look at some of my threads on their site and be up and running there in no time flat.

Which application is best for DVD playback with a KDE desktop?

Also, is there a newer version of Amarok, and how do I install it?

[sithlord48]

Re: Hello

for video playback (including DVD's) try vlc you can install it .make sure you have both the universe and multiverse repos enabled see above post for a how to on turning them on. then install use adept manager and search for "vlc" there is a lot to look at that are useful extras such as vlc's browser plugin to handle video in webpages.

now, if you really like how kde4 looks and you just want to tinker with it till perhaps you get it working, while still being able to use kde3. you might want to check in to "project neon" search the forum for further instructions (just when you add the repo replace "intrepid" with "hardy" if using 8.04)
after adding the repo you can install the package(s) kde-nightly and amarok-nightly (amarok2 the newest version only works on kde4)

the good thing about installing the nightly versions is that it won't affect your .kde folder (where all your kde settings are stored for both kde3 +kde4) so it will be a completely safe way to use both. when you want to switch between kde3 and kde4 log out and click sessions (on the screen where you log in ) KDE will be kde3 and kde-nightly(neon) is kde 4.2-nightly build the kdm will remember you last session so if you want to switch you have to click on session and click on the one you want to use.

as for upgrading there is no reason to upgrade to 8.10 , as 8.04 is a LTS release meaning it will be fully supported till at least 10/09 and prolly a lot longer un-offically.

[bgast1]

Re: Hello

Again I jumped the gun. I realize it was the long way around to get it to work, but I did upgrade from Hardy, and the video driver took. So I'm guessing what you want me to do for VLC is to do

sudo apt-get update

then can I just do

sudo apt-get install vlc

?

[sithlord48]

Re: Hello

you may have to enable the universe repository. but yes sudo apt-get or use adept-manager (although since your using intrepid i would install synaptic first you can get it by doing the following
sudo apt-get install synaptic

synaptic will be a "fuller" package manager similar to the version of adept found in kde3